This photo was from this weekend, a day I actually set aside some time to style my hair. It took about a half hour, after washing and drying. Hiwever, most days I only have minutes to get my hair done in a presentable way.

This photo was from this weekend, a day when I actually set aside some time to style my hair. It took about a half hour, after washing and drying. However, most days I only have minutes to get my hair done in a presentable way.

Hair takes the most amount of time when it comes to get ready. My three wild children tend to be short on patience these days, so getting time to do my hair as I would like it done everyday, just does not happen. I actually “Do” my hair once or twice a week. Typically for something special like date night or a social function. Most days my hair is done in well under 5 minutes. Today it was 1 minute. Seriously, no exaggeration. How do I do this?

  1. I wear hats. Like today. It was preschool day today. I dropped the kids off, had one appointment, made a quick shopping trip to Target (I needed to get baking supplies to make 12 dozen cookies – 9 dozen for a cookies exchange on Friday, 2 dozen for the school open house, and 1 dozen for my own family), and then had a belated birthday lunch with my friend Shae.
    Shae and I at lunch. She has 4 kids age 4 and under and always looks amazing!!

    Shae and I at lunch. She has 4 kids age 4 and under and always looks amazing!!

    I have a good collection of hats. However, it’s because I have been buying them for almost 20 years now. I started wearing hats in college. I still have some of those hats too! When stored properly (not crushed), hats can last a long time and tend to stay in style. The key is to find a style that works for your face shape. Lots of hats work for me. I have a heart face shape. If you have that same shape you are probably lucky to have more hats work for you. How do you know what kind to of hat works for you? Try a bunch on! Steinmart, TJ Maxx, and Target all have hats of various kinds- from berrets, to pageboy caps, to sun hats, to golf visors, to trendy baseball caps. You usually can find all of these in the stores I mentioned. Right around Easter is also a good time to find hats in department stores as well. They usually have a better stock before Easter, because once upon a time ladies wore hats on Easter Sunday.

    One thing that is nice about wearing a hat is that you look more put together than the effort you really put into getting ready. I tend to get more compliments on my appearance on days when I wear hats. I really am not wearing the hat for the compliments, although they are nice. I wear hats for function. I don’t have to style my hair when I put on a hat. I brush my hair and put it in a low ponytail. Then I put the hat on. That’s it. Less than a minute and my hair is done for the day. I wear hats several days a week. They simply make my life easier and make me look like I am actually putting in an effort (when really I am not). I sometimes feel like I am cheating the system. If you can find a few hats that are versatile in your wardrobe and wear them, you will see what I mean! My go-to hats for the winter are a black hat with the flower on the side (as shown in the photo with Shae) and then a brown pageboy style cap. In the summer my go-to hat is white sun hat that goes with just about everything. On Sundays and holidays I like to wear my dressier (derby style) hats. They are just so much fun!

  2. Another easy hair fix that takes just a few minutes is the bun. I really do cheat at this one. I use a product “as seen on tv” called Hot Buns. You can buy this product on Amazon for under $10!imageSo simple to use. If you buy one, try it out for about a half hour, getting used to how it works. Once you have the hang of it you will literally be able to do your hair in 3 minutes. This is how I use mine: I pull my hair back into a tight ponytail. I use an actual rubber band when I use my “Hot Buns”, as it stays in place much more securely. Then I take the Hot Buns, unsnap it and roll my hair tightly all the way to the rubber band. Then I snap the Hot Buns so it is now a circle. I then spread my hair around the Hot Buns and the result is a perfect looking bun, or sock bun. These types of buns are called sock buns because women used to utilize a sock to achieve this perfect, rolled bun look. The Hot Buns makes it sooooo much easier. I can barely French braid Brielle’s hair. I CAN make a perfect bun with this product though. It is easy, anyone can use it. You just need a little bit of hair (probably shoulder length or longer). Here is a photo of my hair done in a bun with the Hot Buns:

    I often like to wear a headband when I wear my bun, as it dresses things up a bit. Now you can find all sorts of cool headbands just about everywhere! I have quite a few sparkly ones from Franchesca’s that I like to wear. Even Walmart sells sparkly ones now too in the jewelery section.

  3. Dry hairspray. I shower often, but only wash my hair in the shower about twice a week. If I wash it more than that, the ends tend to get too dried out. When my hair looks a little oily on the scalp, but the rest of the hair looks good, I use dry shampoo. So easy. I spray the root area around my entire head and then comb it through to ensure it is evenly applied. Sometime I use my fingers to sort of brush it into the scalp area to make sure it is applied where I want it most. I have used a variety of dry shampoo products from cheap to WAAAAY too expensive. My favorite is Pantene’s dry shampoo. It is a great price too around $5 or $6 a bottle!

I like to appear looking nice when I leave the house. I don’t want to accidentally catch glimpses of myself in plate-glass windows and cringe (that has happened to me). I use these little short cuts for my hair because they work for me, they help me look nice, and each takes under 5 minutes to do my hair! Hope these tips can be helpful to you busy ladies too! Life is hard, your hair doesn’t have to be a daily challenge.